CHICAGO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—June 11, 2008—
HLB, the award-winning product strategy, design, and development
firm, announced the addition of four key directors. HLB, long known as
Herbst LaZar Bell, is headquartered in Chicago and has an office in
Boston (
www.hlb.com).

HLB has over 45 years of recognized excellence for its design and
development of countless diverse and widely recognized products. Award–winning
designs have included the Johnson & Johnson Embrace Heart Stabilizer,
the Motorola NFL Coaches’ Headset, and the
iRobot Roomba Discovery Floorvac. In 2007, products created for newly
public Israeli firm Medgenics, Sears Craftsman, Braun, Westell and other
clients earned HLB eight awards and media recognition.

Ann Kauth, Director of Research, will be based out of the firm’s
Chicago headquarters. Prior to joining HLB, Kauth led research teams for
Sapient, Avenue A-Razorfish and E-Lab.

Ms. Kauth brings 13 years of research expertise in understanding
customers and end-user experiences to her role with HLB. She has helped
companies like General Mills, BMW, McDonald’s,
Urologix, Johnson & Johnson and Motorola understand their customers’
needs and helped create the stimulus, vision, and messaging for many
valued products. Kauth received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the
University of Chicago.

Fred Keith, Director of Sales and Business Development, will work out of
the Waltham, Massachusetts office. He will contribute to growth at HLB
through acquisition of new customers as well as maintaining business
relationships with existing customers.

Mr. Keith spent 22 years in sales in the R&D and enterprise software
field, working primarily with engineering and product development teams,
where he was engaged in product design, development and manufacturing
business processes. Most recently, he held regional sales executive
positions at Siemens PLM (formerly UGS), the start-up firm Aras
Corporation, and Workgroup Technology Corporation. Keith earned his
Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University.

Mary Mikelk, Director of Business Strategy & Innovation, will work out
of HLB’s Waltham Massachusetts office. With
over 20 years of experience in leading businesses through strategic
initiatives, Ms. Mikelk will help HLB’s
clients formulate and plan their business innovation strategies by
placing particular emphasis on achieving design solutions that are
meaningful to the end user and relevant to the client brand. This will
include market and competitive research, customer behavior studies,
life-stage modeling, and customer relationship management strategies and
execution.

Before joining HLB, Ms. Mikelk was a client executive at Boston-based
Keane, Inc., and also served as Director of Business Consulting and
Brand Consulting for Cambridge, MA-based Sapient Corporation, where she
helped clients formulate and plan their business and cross-channel
strategies. She also owned and operated a marketing company. Mikelk
earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from the State
University of New York at Buffalo.

Karen Scanlan, Director of Research, will be based out of the firm’s
Chicago headquarters. She adds more than 13 years of experience to an
already strong HLB research team. Her expertise is in analyzing,
synthesizing and translating research findings into actionable new
health care and consumer products. She led cross-disciplinary,
analysis-driven projects in alignment with project and strategic
business objectives. Scanlan has helped companies like Unilever/Dove,
Target, Kraft, McDonald Corporation, Motorola, Microsoft, Starbucks, LG,
Kohler, BP, Navteq, JC Penny, Philips, General Motors, and the
Department of Veteran's Affairs to create valued products and messages.

Before joining HLB, Scanlan was a senior researcher for Avenue
A-Razorfish. Her earlier expertise was honed while working with Research
International, Doblin Inc. and SonicRim. She also served as an
instructor in the Illinois Institute of Technology’s
renowned design curriculum. She received her BA in Psychology from the
University of Illinois-Chicago and a Master of Design from the Institute
of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology.

Andrew Macey, HLB chief operating officer and executive vice president,
commented that, “We are thrilled that
seasoned professionals of this depth, experience and caliber, who really
understand what is meaningful to our clients and their customers, are
joining our already-strong team, and we will continue to build for a
great future to accommodate our recent growth.”